Wellington have signed the Australian fast bowler Brett Lee for New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 tournament this summer, but he will miss half their matches due to his commitments for New South Wales

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2010Wellington have signed the Australian fast bowler Brett Lee for New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 tournament this summer, but he will miss half their matches due to his commitments for New South Wales. Lee has joined the England allrounder Luke Wright as Wellington’s overseas players for the HRV Cup, which begins in early December.He is expected to be available for five of Wellington’s ten matches, jetting across the Tasman Sea regularly so New South Wales do not lose him for any games. After an injury-plagued year, Lee made his state comeback in Sydney on Sunday and is hoping to be part of Australia’s limited-overs side to take on Sri Lanka starting on October 31.”It’s tremendous to have secured the services of Brett and his record speaks for itself,” Gavin Larsen, the CEO of Cricket Wellington, said. There will be at least one familiar face for Lee in the change-rooms – his former New South Wales fast-bowling colleague and now Wellington coach Anthony Stuart.”Not only will Brett run in hard and provide a cutting edge to our attack, he will also offer us extra batting power in the middle to lower order and he is a top fielder,” Stuart said. Lee is expected to make his debut for Wellington in their home match against Auckland on December 14.There will be several big names from around the world in the HRV Cup this summer, after Northern Districts signed Herschelle Gibbs, Brad Hodge and David Warner. There were also reports that Canterbury were chasing the Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait, although he will now be out of action until at least early December with an elbow injury.

MS Dhoni has asked for Tests to be played at venues that have a history of supporting Test cricket with big attendances

Sidharth Monga at the Chinnaswamy Stadium13-Oct-2010MS Dhoni has asked for Tests to be played at venues that have a history of supporting the format with big attendances, and has appreciated the support received from the Bangalore crowd during the course of India’s victory against Australia. Of India’s 10 Test venues – Hyderabad being the newest – Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Mohali and to an extent Delhi are known for their lukewarm response to Test cricket.”Maybe some of these centres where people come up to see Test matches can be given preference over some other centres where people don’t come in large numbers to watch Test matches,” Dhoni said. “After all, if taken in the right sense, we are the performers in the circus, but you need the circus to be full. It [this comment] should be taken in the right sense.”Dhoni and his men liked what they saw in Bangalore. Three of the days – the weekend and the final day – were almost sold out. “It really helps the players who are on the field,” Dhoni said. “Frankly speaking, in the 45th or 50th over, when the fast bowler comes for his second or third spell, it’s the crowd that gets him going, apart from the fact that he is supposed to do well for the team and the country. You need some kind of a motivation, and especially because we’re used to playing IPL and ODIs in front of 30000 or 40000 or 50000 people, you want that kind of a crowd.”Throughout the last five days, the spectators have been India’s 12th man. They cheered every special effort by the Indians, appealed when the bowler appealed, got off their seats when Sachin Tendulkar and other batsmen played good strokes, and appreciated every good effort by the fielders. Some of them booed the Australians, but many were appreciative.”It was a remarkable crowd,” Dhoni said. “Throughout the five days there were good crowds, and on the final day it was literally house full. You could see as many people in the stands as in a Twenty20 or ODI match. They supported good cricket more than anything else.”They did get their money’s worth. Not only did they watch their home side complete a clean sweep against Australia, they saw Tendulkar go level with Virender Sehwag as the Indian with the most double-centuries; they saw Cheteshwar Pujara, the debutant, play an innings he wouldn’t mind as his epitaph; they saw M Vijay, a stylish batsman, add substance to his game at Test level; they saw Ricky Ponting bat beautifully but fall disappointingly short; they saw Zaheer Khan and Ben Hilfenhaus create wickets on flat pitches. The Indian team thanked the crowd with a deserved lap of the ground.

The ICC executive board has unanimously agreed that all of its members should introduce a domestic anti-corruption code

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2010The ICC has asked its members to adopt, by April 2011, a domestic anti-corruption code in line with the council’s international code. This follows a proposal from the Pakistan Task Team (PTT), which met with the board via teleconference today to discuss the PCB’s progress in implementing the changes required by the ICC in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal.Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive, said he had written to all the members in October requesting them to review their anti-corruption procedures and, where necessary, introduce new measures. He said the ICC had prepared a template domestic code – incorporating the essence of its existing Anti-Corruption Code – for use in countries lacking their own set of rules. Countries having a code in place should review it for adequacy.The ICC has asked its members to review their structures to deal with integrity issues; on-going education planning and delivery; reporting of integrity concerns in domestic cricket and the vetting of player agents. “All members have a responsibility to demonstrate leadership and good practice in protecting the integrity of the sport at domestic and international level,” Lorgat said.The board said it was satisfied with the progress being made by the PTT and the PCB, which has already established an integrity committee and appointed an integrity officer, saying the PCB has either implemented or begun to implement the ICC’s requirements within the 30-day deadline. The PTT is also working on providing recommendations to help the Pakistan board restore confidence in its administration, but reiterated that team selection is solely the responsibility of the national boards.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second ODI between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in Mirpur

The Preview by Dustin Silgardo02-Dec-2010

Match Facts

Friday, December 3
Start time 09:00 (03:00 GMT)Shakib Al Hasan scored a half-century in the first ODI against Zimbabwe but later said he was not happy with his role as Bangladesh captain•Associated Press

The Big Picture

Bangladesh will be under intense pressure to recover from Wednesday’s double-whammy – a surprise loss to Zimbabwe followed by their captain Shakib Al Hasan’s outburst that he was not satisfied with his role as captain nor with the team he has been given. A single loss should not really take all the wind out of Bangladesh’s sails, as the memory of their 4-0 drubbing of New Zealand in October is still fresh, but a wavering captain makes them especially vulnerable.Zimbabwe have the opportunity to prove they could be a threat to the other sides in their group during the World Cup next year. They are notorious giant-killers in World Cups, and the spin duo of Ray Price and Prosper Utseya will relish the conditions in the subcontinent, as they showed in the first ODI.Both sides will hope to better their batting performances from the first match. Even during Bangladesh’s series win over New Zealand, they never once crossed 250 and had to rely on their left-arm spinners to deliver victories. Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura will have to start with himself if he wants his batsmen to improve, having only scored one half-century this year.

Form Guide

(most recent first)
Bangladesh: LWWWWZimbabwe: WLLLLL

Watch out for …

Tatenda Taibu has averaged 37.38 in ODIs over the last 12 months and with Chigumbura struggling for runs and the inexperienced Regis Chakabva and Craig Ervine making up the rest of Zimbabwe’s middle-order, the onus will be on Taibu to score runs in the middle overs. Taibu has had plenty of experience playing on subcontinent tracks and will need to take the lead in showing the rest of the batsmen how to deal with Bangladesh’s spinners.Bangladesh let Zimbabwe get away to a quick start in the first ODI before the spinners pulled the game back. They will be looking to Mashrafe Mortaza to prevent that from happening on Friday. Mortaza’s position in the side is an interesting one because he was originally named captain for the New Zealand series but injured himself in the first game. The selectors decided to stick with Shakib despite Mortaza’s return and he will now have to prove that he can be a match-winner with the ball if he is to be handed back the captaincy.

Pitch Conditions

The teams will stay in Dhaka for the second and third ODIs so conditions can be expected to be the same as the first match. The trend at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium has been batsmen struggling with the slow and low conditions and the spinners able to maintain a lid on run-scoring. As the first ODI proved, a total of anything more than 200 will prove challenging for the side batting second as the wicket gets slower and offers some turn.

Teams

Shakib said Bangladesh missed the fielding skills of Naeem Islam and Raqibul Hassan, so they could come in to the side. Mohammad Ashraful’s return to the team saw him make just seven runs, so there might be pressure to drop him again. Junaid Siddique will also be under pressure having failed to get past 20 in each of his last four innings.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique/ Naeem Islam, 4 Raqibul Hasan / Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Suhrawadi Shuvo, 8 Mahmudullah, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Abdur Razzak, 11 Shafiul IslamHamilton Masakadza was dropped for the first ODI and with his replacement Chakabva top-scoring for Zimbabwe, could continue to be left out. Zimbabwe also have hard-hitting allrounder Ryan Butterworth in their squad.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Brendan Taylor, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Regis Chakabva, 4. Tatenda Taibu (wk), 5 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Keegan Meth, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Keith Dabengwa, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Chris Mpofu

Stats and Trivia

• There has never been a score of over 300 during a day game at the Shere Bangla Stadium
• Zimbabwe have only two batsmen in their line-up with a strike-rate of over 70 in ODIs. Elton Chigumbura strike-rate of 88.33 is the highest for any Zimbabwe batsman who has scored more than 1000 runs in ODIs.
• In 26 Innings, Zimbabwe No.11 Chris Mpofu has hit a solitary four and averages 2.38.

Quotes

“I am not satisfied with my role as a captain. The reasons are numerous, and I cannot detail all of them right at the moment.”
“We need to do more as a team and our total today fell short of what we had wanted as a target.”

Pakistan’s domestic players who are currently representing city cricket associations in the QEA Trophy have asked the PCB to resume the regional central contracts system

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2010Pakistan’s domestic players who are currently representing city cricket associations in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy have asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to resume the regional central contracts system, in order to ensure their livelihood through the off season.This year’s QEA Trophy features 22 teams – 9 departmental and 13 regional – divided into two leagues. During former PCB chairman Nasim Ahsraf’s reign, players in the regional sides were given central contracts, a practice that has been done away with in recent years, along with a reduction in the match fees.”The top players from the associations leave their regional sides in order to play for departments so how can you expect the regions to maintain their level of performances every year?” asked a president of one of the leading associations. “The standard of associations can only be gauged if there are different leagues for associations and departments. You cannot expect a region to defeat departmental sides in every match. There is a big difference of quality.”The earlier contracts system had three categories, with the top level getting Rs 20,000 ($ 233) per month, and the next grades earning Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. The monetary motivation, according to Karachi Blues player Tabish Nawab, encouraged players to pursue cricket in Pakistan instead of looking for more lucrative options abroad.”There has been a trend in Pakistan that most of our cricketers aim to play just five matches anyhow, in order to be eligible to play in Britain,” Nawab told the News. “Subconsciously, they neglect the main priority of performing well to represent the country. The feeling of nationalism dies once money becomes the first priority.”While the players are abroad they have to do job five days a week, and the remaining two days they have to play for their respective clubs. Thus their fitness level does not remain the same and players get injured. Cricket has become a profession and the board needs to understand that there is a dire need to invest in the game for domestic players as well. In today’s world money has become a necessity. In such lowly pay structure, you cannot expect that a player can have top quality cricket gear, a healthy diet to maintain his fitness at the same time. We need to end the financial uncertainty surrounding our players so that they only think about cricket which will eventually help Pakistan.”

The Pakistani offspinner, Saeed Ajmal, has joined Worcestershire for the second half of the 2011 season, pending the granting of a No Objection Certificate from the Pakistan Board and work permit approval

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2011The Pakistani offspinner, Saeed Ajmal, has joined Worcestershire for the second half of the 2011 season, pending the granting of a No Objection Certificate from the Pakistan Board and work permit approval.”We’re absolutely delighted to welcome Saeed to the club,” said Worcestershire’s director of cricket, Steve Rhodes. “He’s a bowler of international stature and as a spinner with good variation he will be a crucial weapon during the latter part of the season, when the wickets notoriously begin to turn.”Ajmal has taken 33 wickets in nine Tests for Pakistan, with a best of 5 for 82 against England at Edgbaston in July 2010. He was also an integral member of Pakistan’s victorious World Twenty20 campaign in 2009, in which he claimed 12 wickets at 13.58, including a best of 4 for 19 against Ireland.”Worcestershire has a special standing in Pakistan due to its association with Imran Khan, and I am proud to be able to represent the same club as the great Imran,” said Ajmal. “I am confident that with the help of Steve Rhodes and the boys at the club, I will settle in and give my all for the club in search of honours in 2011.”

is edited by cricket journalist Suresh Menon and comprises 18 essays by writers who have watched Tendulkar’s career, and in some cases been a part of it

Nitin Sundar09-Feb-2011″I shudder to think what today’s coaches would have done with Sachin Tendulkar.” So begins Sanjay Manjrekar’s contribution to , the latest book on the game’s most prolific batsman, launched in Bangalore on Wednesday. It is a statement that underlines Tendulkar’s most defining characteristic – his endurance. Tendulkar has been the only constant through 21 years (and counting) of the game’s metamorphosis, and excelling in every format. After all these years at the top, with his every move analysed to death, is there anything more that can be written about Tendulkar? The answer, going by , seems to be a yes.The book, edited by eminent cricket journalist Suresh Menon, comprises 18 essays by writers who have watched Tendulkar’s career, and, in the cases of Manjrekar, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid, been a part of it. Seventeen of the 18 essays are freshly commissioned – “I was the only lazy one,” says Menon with a chuckle. Yet, as the editor of the book, his contribution is to have taken it from conception to paperback in just over seven months. Fittingly, it includes a foreword by the man who is to bowling what Tendulkar is to batting – Muttiah Muralitharan.It was also fitting that Dravid launched the book, and Kumble received the first copy: Kumble and Tendulkar held the record for the most Tests played by two cricketers together (122), until the Dravid-Tendulkar combine (currently 135) broke it. Kumble marveled at Tendulkar’s ability to master every aspect of the game he set his mind to. “Sachin just rolled his arm over, and turned the legspinner and the googly by the same huge width, while I was struggling to spin the ball,” he said. Menon recalled Kumble once saying that if Tendulkar took to legspin, he himself might have never played for India.Kumble also remembered his debut at Old Trafford in 1990, in which Tendulkar scored his first international century. “Kiran More had ordered me to keep standing on the balcony, since Tendulkar was batting well when I was there,” Kumble said. “I was allowed to sit down only after he reached his hundred, and the match was saved.”Both Kumble and Dravid also spoke of Menon’s contribution to cricket writing. Dravid recounted how he used to preserve, and be inspired, by Menon’s newspaper articles on him when he was a schoolboy cricketer. He believed this book would stand out from the crowd thanks to the sheer quality of contributors, including Peter Roebuck, Greg Baum, Harsha Bhogle and Barney Ronay. “The book is a great reflection on Tendulkar’s accomplishments, and is something youngsters taking to cricket will enjoy reading,” he said. “Chronicling good writing is not something we do very well in India, and this book is a very good start.”, published by Krab Media and Westland, is priced at Rs. 599 in India, and $16 everywhere else

Australia began their World Cup campaign on a winning note, wrapping up an easy 91-run win over a Zimbabwean outfit with no answer to the pace battery of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill21-Feb-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Shaun Tait’s pace was too much for Zimbabwe as Australia surged to a 91-run win at Motera•Getty Images

Australia began their World Cup campaign on a winning note, wrapping up an easy 91-run win over a Zimbabwean outfit that had no answer to the pace battery of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson, who finished as the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 19. Zimbabwe had put in a spirited display in the field to keep Australia to 262 for 6 on a good batting wicket, but they never looked like chasing the runs down once a positive opening stand between Charles Coventry and Brendan Taylor had been broken.With Lee and Tait steaming in with the new ball, Zimbabwe’s openers had every reason to be nervous but they quickly shed their early jitters – Coventry’s flambuoyant flash over cover point being a particular highlight – and started to settle before Lee switched his length with immediate reward. Digging the ball in, he drew a false stroke from Coventry and an ungainly hook resulted in a top edge that Lee himself charged round to catch.Brendan Taylor did his best to overcome the setback but the revival was short-lived and after Tatenda Taibu glided Johnson straight to slip Tait beat Taylor for pace, aiming one full and straight and pin-balling it off bat and pad to disturb his stumps. It was extreme speed that did for Craig Ervine, too, as he took his eyes off a Johnson bumper to wear one on the grille and was pinned on the pad in front of middle and leg by the very next ball. With the Umpire unwilling to send him on his way, a successful referral was asked for and Zimbabwe’s chase quickly began to slide towards the mire at 44 for 4 in the 13th over.Williams didn’t look particularly comfortable against Johnson either, but he and Chigumbura did at least manage to survive the onslaught and slowly began to rebuild against Australia’s second string. The chase derailed completely when Chigumbura gloved Jason Krejza to Haddin for 14 in the 22nd over and Zimbabwe’s last hopes evaporated soon after, Williams wafting Tait to slip as the score sank to 96 for 6. Despite some stubborn resistance from Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer, there was no coming back from there.

Smart Stats

• Australia scored just 28 runs in the first ten overs of their innings. Their lowest ever aggregate in the first ten overs since 2000 is 7 for 4 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2006.

• Shane Watson, during the course of his 79, scored his 20th half-century in ODIs. In 28 matches since the beginning of 2010, he has scored one century and ten fifties at an average of 42.81.

• Ricky Ponting was run out for the 30th time in ODIs, which is second only to Mark Waugh’s 32 run-out dismissals among Australian batsmen. Ponting also holds the record for most run-out dismissals in Tests (14).

• Ray Price, who picked up 1 for 43 off his ten overs, has a career economy rate of 3.87, which is the best among spinners who have bowled in at least 50 innings.

• With their 91-run victory, Australia extended their undefeated streak in World Cups to 30 matches. Their last defeat in World Cups came against Pakistan in May 1999.

• Mitchell Johnson finished with figures of 4 for 19 in 9.2 overs at an economy rate of 2.03. Among Australian bowlers who have bowled at least eight overs in an innings in a World Cup match, Shane Warne has the best economy rate of 1.10 against West Indies in 1999.

• Ricky Ponting has now played in the most World Cup matches (40), going past Glenn Mcgrath, with whom he shared the previous record of 39 matches.

It had been a different story for Zimbabwe when they were in the field as some disciplined bowling and inspired fielding ensured Australia’s batsmen never really got away from them. As has been the case so often in recent times, Shane Watson provided the bulk of the runs at the top of the order with a well-paced 79, while Michael Clarke guided their charge past 250 with an unbeaten 58.Watson and Haddin made a strangely subdued start, and despite the admirable professionalism shown by Zimbabwe’s attack one might have expected more than 28 runs to have come from the first Powerplay. While Chris Mpofu, the only specialist seamer in the side, maintained a disciplined off-stump line, Ray Price shared the new pill and also lived up to his unapologetically brusque reputation, laying into Watson before he’d even faced a ball.The batsmen finally decided they had had enough of the wait-and-see tactic and broke loose with 17 off Mpofu’s sixth over but Zimbabwe struck back when Utseya came on at the end of the first Powerplay. After an exemplary start to his spell – in which not a run was scored for the first nine deliveries he sent down – had his reward when Haddin stepped back to a flighted delivery and was struck in line with middle and leg. Umpire Asoka de Silva thought there might have been an inside edge, but Zimbabwe asked for a review – this being their first ever look at the UDRS – and had the decision over-turned.After a quiet start to his innings Watson started to strike the ball with ominous force, lifting Cremer into the stands with a brutal pull, before he was removed by Zimbabwe’s second fortuitous referral of the day. Stretching forward to a Cremer legbreak, Watson played with more pad than bat to prompt an emotive appeal. This time it was Umpire Richard Kettleborough who decided there was enough doubt to turn it down, but wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu insisted on a referral and Zimbabwe were rewarded with the result they wanted.They were given a serious lift in the very next over as Ricky Ponting, in his first full international innings since his return from a finger injury, took on Mpofu’s arm with a hard-run second as the ball rolled to midwicket. A pinpoint rocket throw hit the wicket directly to catch him well short to spark wild celebrations from Zimbabwe and with that Australia were 144 for 3. Clarke and Cameron White started their rebuilding effort cautiously and Zimbabwe never let the game get away from them, Mpofu recovering well from a cumbersome start to his spell at the death to rattle White’s stumps and reduce Australia to 207 for 4.David Hussey and Steve Smith came and went in quick succession but gave the innings some oomph while they were at the crease, both clearing the boundary with some powerful strokes. Clarke remained to guide Australia to a total which, while probably not as many as they would have hoped for, still proved far too much for a Zimbabwe line-up with precious little experience of facing express international fast bowling.

Match Timeline

Glamorgan will need 226 runs on the final day of their match against
Leicestershire, with seven wickets remaining, if they are to make a winning
start to the County Championship Division Two season

10-Apr-2011
Scorecard
Glamorgan will need 226 runs on the final day of their match against
Leicestershire, with seven wickets remaining, if they are to make a winning
start to the County Championship Division Two season.Leicestershire set the Grace Road visitors a victory target of 338 after Will
Jefferson had steered them out of trouble with a magnificent century – and
Glamorgan closed day three on 112 for 3.At once stage Leicestershire were 43 for 5 in their second innings – but
Jefferson and Jigar Naik shared a sixth-wicket partnership of 149 to lead the
home side to a total of 245.Jefferson’s 112 was the 15th first class century of his career and his third
for Leicestershire since he joined them from Nottinghamshire at the start of
last season, while Naik weighed in with 67.Starting the third day on 78 for 5, the hosts made good progress – adding
104 runs in 34 overs by lunch without losing any more wickets. Jefferson, 48 overnight, reached his 50 with two early singles and then took successive boundaries off Robert Croft to bring up the 100 partnership.The opener looked in excellent touch, timing the ball well – particularly
through the offside. Two more fours off Dean Cosker took Jefferson to 100 off
180 balls with 12 boundaries. Although it was his third century for Leicestershire, it was the first he had scored at Grace Road.Naik was providing solid support and reached 50 off 128 balls with eight fours,
before the partnership was broken shortly after lunch. Jefferson, looking to drive off the back foot against Adam Shantry, edged a low catch to Michael Powell at slip having made 112 off 213 balls.Naik was out a few overs later, snared at short leg off the bowling of Robert
Croft. But he had done an outstanding job for his side, hitting 10 fours in his
179-ball innings.The last three wickets added another 35 runs before Cosker had captain Matthew
Hoggard leg before wicket, leaving Glamorgan a challenging target of 338 on a
pitch starting to show some variable bounce.Cosker was again Glamorgan’s most successful bowling finishing with 4
for 50, while Graham Wagg claimed 3 for 59.Gareth Rees and Alviro Petersen gave Glamorgan a solid start to the run chase
until both were out in the space of four balls with the score on 43.Petersen was first to go, trapped lbw by a Nadeem Malik yorker, then Rees then
chopped the third delivery of the next over from Claude Henderson back into his
stumps.Bragg and Powell carefully set about rebuilding the innings and looked to have
succeeded with a stand of 64 until, in the penultimate over of the day, Naik had
Will Bragg lbw for 43 to give Leicestershire the edge in what looks like being a
tight finish.

Deccan Chargers were handcuffed by Yuvraj Singh’s round-arm left-arm spin, submitting to a middling total after a flashy start

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga10-May-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Yuvraj Singh led the Pune effort with the ball•AFP

Deccan Chargers were handcuffed by Yuvraj Singh’s round-arm left-arm spin, submitting to a middling total after a flashy start. They lost two wickets to Yuvraj at crucial junctures, and scored only 17 off his four overs. Mitchell Marsh and Rahul Sharma did their bit too, conceding 49 in their eight overs. Marsh was rewarded handsomely with three wickets in the 19th over with frustrated batsmen looking to force the pace. Jesse Ryder and Manish Pandey made light work of the chase, although this game was inconsequential to qualification for further rounds.The match might not have an impact on who goes to the playoffs, but it grew immensely as drama when Yuvraj announced at the toss that Sourav Ganguly was finally going to play in this year’s IPL. Having been ignored by his home side Kolkata Knight Riders, and picked by Pune Warriors only after an injury to Ashish Nehra, Ganguly came in to bat with the win more or less in the bag, but found time to hit a trademark six over midwicket off Amit Mishra in an unbeaten, run-a-ball 32. One member of the enthusiastic crowd found his way onto the ground, and fell at his feet during the break after Robin Uthappa’s wicket.The chase by then seemed easy, but with the way Shikhar Dhawan and DB Ravi Teja started the game, a facile win would have been the last thing on Pune Warriors’ minds. They brought up the fifty in the sixth over, but Yuvraj dismissed Dhawan in his first over, and the squeeze that followed slowed Deccan down. Five fours and two sixes were hit in the first six overs, only six boundaries in the rest of the piece.Dhawan and Teja were good against the medium pace of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shrikanth Wagh, and Dhawan welcomed Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell to the crease with sixes. When he tried to do the same to Yuvraj, who had brought himself on to stop the bleeding, the bowler pulled the length back, bowled a little slower, and Dhawan could only sky him to cover. Marsh followed it up with a played-on dismissal of Teja’s. At 56 for 2 in the eighth over, Kumar Sangakkara and JP Duminy tried to make sure there were no more quick strikes.However, Rahul beat Sangakkara’s sweep with a flat, straight delivery. Yuvraj came back, and tortured Daniel Christian with deliveries that wouldn’t spin. Finally Christian played around his front pad to be caught dead plumb. At 98 for 3 in the 15th over, the onus was on Duminy to take Deccan to a good total. However, as has been the case of late, Duminy couldn’t make a telling contribution, managing a run-a-ball 30.Dale Steyn, faced with the prospect of defending a pedestrian total, took matters in his own hands, and scored 10 off the last over, in the process scoring only the third boundary since the 15th over. Ryder, though, was quick to see off the only threat to their chase. He punched, drove and hooked Steyn for four, four and six in the first over. Between them, Ryder and Pandey scored 84 off 62, which basically finished off the chase.